This invention is related to package handlers for integrated circuit packages, and particularly to an apparatus for soft handling of such packages.
As the art and science of electronics and integrated circuits has progressed, the demands made of packaging systems and handlers for presenting such systems to testing equipment has seen increasing complexity. As the packages for integrated circuits have advanced from the simple dual-in-line type to various kinds of chip carriers with high pin counts, the package sizes have increased considerably and in many cases the integrated circuits that they hold have become increasingly susceptable to vibration damage. Also, the package handling arts have not kept pace with these advances in package design. For example, a significant number of chip carrier designs are presently constructed of relatively fragile ceramic materials. Yet, most package handlers for such packages make no provision for soft handling of such fragile materials. Most handlers at the present time tend to use the force of gravity and a system of immovable metallic or hard plastic troughs to feed packages destined for test throughout the test apparatus, thereby permitting the packages to bump into one another in the troughs, and potentially causing damage to the sensitive electronic components therein. Some manufacturers have at least recognized the problem and have provided a plastic "bumper" which can be placed on each package, so that when they impact each other in the handling equipment, that impact is largely absorbed by the bumper. Such solutions are however, far less than satisfactory in that the bumpers are time consuming to install if they are not made directly with the package. Furthermore, such solutions do not recognize the inherent weakness of simply lessening the impact that occurs between components in the handling system.
What is needed is a package handling system that avoids impact between packages completely, while at the same time providing a convenient approach to feeding packages into the system and removing them therefrom.